It was a Wednesday night and I had just attended the Wednesday testimony meeting at my church. The readings had been about how we are safe in God’s care.

After church, I headed to Berkeley to go folk dancing. My two dogs were with me. They like to come with me and run around a bit before I go to my dance class, — then we go for a walk after dancing.

But as we got out of the car, I realized that I had forgotten to put Charlie’s collar back on him, so I couldn’t hook him up to the leash. So as we walked down the street, I was thinking about how he was safe in God’s care.

Recently he had started wanting to chase bicycles (which I thought he had gotten over). Just as I was thinking about his safety as an idea God, he slipped into a front yard behind a concrete wall, went out the other side, spotted a bicyclist, and darted between two parked cars into the street to chase the bicycle on the far side of the street. It all happened very fast. What neither of us saw was the car coming from behind us on the near side of the street.

I only had time to yell, “No.” I heard him yelp, and I immediately declared, “It never happened.” My thought went straight to the idea that he is safe in God’s care — that there never is a moment when he is outside of God’s control. As I was praying, I went into the street not sure what I would find. I was grateful when I didn’t find him lying in the street. In fact, I didn’t know where he was at first. Then I spotted standing on the sidewalk a couple of houses down the street.

I continued to pray as I went to him and checked to see if he was okay. There was black tire dirt around his eye, and though I didn’t see it in the dark, I later noticed it on his front leg as well. But he was calm and did not seem to be hurt.

I quietly spoke to him of his spiritual identity as an idea of God while I brushed the dirt away. I wondered if I should just put the dogs back in the car and go home and pray, or whether I should not allow the belief of accident to interfere with my normal activity.

I decided to go ahead with my dancing, but to check on him if it came to me to do so. During the first dance, I heard a dog howling and I immediately went to check on Charlie. I discovered it was another dog, and that my dogs were just quietly waiting in the car.

So I went back in and danced. About an hour later, I checked on the dogs again and found that Charlie was limping – he didn’t put any weight on his front foot. So we piled in the car and headed home and just stayed with the spiritual facts.

I knew that as a spiritual idea, he is indestructible. I thought of Mary Baker Eddy’s sentences from page 514 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that state, “All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible. A knowlege of this fact was a source of strength to the ancient worthies… It supports Christian healing…”

As I drove home, the thought crept in that maybe I should take him to be checked to see that no bones were broken, etc. But I knew that that was not the right answer for me. I knew that I could trust and know that as a spiritual idea he could not be broken. I remembered these sentences from page 262 of The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany from Mrs. Eddy’s article titled, What Christmas Means to Me. “God creates man perfect and eternal in His own image. Hence man is the image, idea, or likeness of perfection —an ideal which cannot fall from its inherent unity with divine Love, from its spotless purity and original perfection.” I knew that this truth applied to all of God’s ideas – including doogas.

When we got home, I knew his leg wasn’t broken, as he forgot himself for a minute and ran across the backyard to chase a squirrel up a tree.

As I continued to pray, it came to me to challenge every suggestion of error and replace it with the truth. So I worked to know that no accident had ever occurred, that he was unbroken, that I was innocent, that I couldn’t do anything that could cause him harm (by forgetting his collar). I acknowledged that God was the only power, the only Cause. I knew that there could be no inflammation or swelling for an idea of Soul. I worked to be free of any fear, knowing that I could trust God’s care. I repeatedly came back to the idea that there never was a moment when he was outside of God’s care.

I prayed continually until I went to sleep.

I’m so grateful to report that in the morning there was no evidence that he had ever been hurt. He ran happily around the back yard, wagging his tail, free and whole. It wasn’t until later in the day that I noticed the dirty tire mark on the back of his leg. That mark just washed away with a little soap and water.

He has been completely free every since. And I am so grateful that the Wednesday meeting prepared me to handle the situation before it even entered thought. God’s law of good, being ever-present and all-powerful, was right there, governing my thought and protecting him from harm.

And the acknowledging of God’s perfect law of good brought his safety and protection to light.

I’m grateful to share a testimony that occurred a few years ago. At some point symptoms occurred that seemed to affect my nervous system. I was aware of slight tremors in my head, and prayed to recognize that no claim could attach itself to God’s child. Over a few months I prayed every day and whenever the evidence needed batting down. Occasionally, it occurred during church, and I vehemently rejected this intrusion on my peace and focus.

The citation on page 228 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy was especially helpful and strong:

“There is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God. The humble Nazarene overthrew the supposition that sin, sickness, and death have power. He proved them powerless.”

I learned to be adamant in claiming divine authority over this, as Jesus did. The symptoms subsided till I was completely free. I’m most grateful for this healing.

Two or three times when symptoms recurred, I insisted that this was a permanent healing! And it has been for at least four years. Hallelujah!